Eddie Jones scored 32 points and the Los Angeles Lakers held the
Minnesota Timberwolves to one basket for an eight-minute stretch
of the second quarter, cruising to a 109-96 victory, their third
straight win.

Elden Campbell scored 22 points and red-hot Kobe Bryant added 21
for the Lakers, who began a five-game road trip without injured
All-Star Shaquille O'Neal but improved to 10-5 without their 7-2
center.

"The first game on a road trip is always a key one," Lakers
coach Del Harris said. "When you are on a monster trip, it is
especially important. We wanted to come out and assert ourselves
tonight. I thought we did just that."

Los Angeles broke open a tie game with a 17-4 run over the last
eight minutes of the first half. The Lakers never led by less
than 10 points in the final period and improved to 27-7 all-time
against the Timberwolves.

"I came out early for shootaround tonight and it paid off," said
Jones, who shot 13-of-20 from the field. "I felt good. When I
get open looks, the coaches want me to shoot, whether I am
making them or not."

"In transition, I don't know how many layups Eddie had," said
Minnesota coach Flip Saunders. "But he had numerous layups when
we scored and he beat us down to the other end of the court and
made some great finishes."

Kevin Garnett had 21 points and 18 rebounds for Minnesota, which
has lost four of its last five games. The Wolves were looking
to avenge their worst loss of the season, a 118-93 setback at
Los Angeles on November 19th.

Garnett scored 14 points in the first 16 minutes, but the Lakers
relied on 6-10 Robert Horry, who triggered their trap and whose
quickness helped slow down the All-Star forward thereafter.
Garnett finished 8-of-16 from the field.

"Robert was terrific tonight," Harris said. "He is such an
important part of what we do on defense. He is generally the
catalyst for our junk defense. Every now and then he turns his
guy loose, but he does an outstanding job of igniting our
defense."

"I thought KG was one guy tonight who was pretty good for us
with all the things he did," Saunders said. "You could not ask
him to do everything."

Jones scored eight points in the first quarter, which ended in a
24-24 tie. A layup by Garnett tied it again at 37-37 with eight
minutes left in the second quarter before the Wolves went cold
with a pair of four-minute field-goal droughts.

Campbell scored six points and Jones five as the Lakers used
defense to build a 54-41 halftime edge. During that stretch,
Minnesota got a pair of free throws from Chris Carr with 6:17
left and a 10-foot runner by Tom Gugliotta with four minutes to
go.

In the second period, the Lakers shot 57 percent (12-of-21) from
the field while holding the Wolves to 33 percent (7-of-21).

"Their defense is to attack you and get you on your heels," said
Gugliotta. "Unfortunately, we made them look a lot better than
they are by being tentative in the half-court traps and not
moving the ball. You can make a really bad defensive team look
good if you do not move the ball."

Minnesota scored the first six points of the third quarter,
including a 16-footer by Gugliotta that cut the deficit to 54-47
with 10:15 remaining. But Jones scored seven points in a 15-4
spurt. A three-pointer by Nick Van Exel capped the run and gave
Los Angeles its largest lead at 69-51 with 4:55 left.

A dunk by Garnett closed the quarter and pulled Minnesota within
78-68. But Bryant scored eight points and Campbell seven in the
final period as Los Angeles was never threatened. Bryant is
averaging 26.3 points in his last three games.

Van Exel had 12 points and a season-high 14 assists for the
Lakers, who shot 45.5 percent (40-of-88) from the field and made
23-of-29 free throws. Seven Lakers pulled down at least five
rebounds, including Horry, who scored 10 points.

Gugliotta had 18 points and 11 boards and Stephon Marbury added
17 points for the Wolves, who shot 42 percent (36-of-85) and
held a 51-44 rebounding edge. Marbury was held to four assists
and 0-of-4 from three-point range.